About Vagina Chronicles Podcast

This week, we just wanted to share a short inspirational episode with you. A reminder to pause and breathe!

It can be really frustrating to be in that in-between place of setting a goal and reaching that goal; a time when you’re tightening your wallet or saying no to social gatherings or trips or…really, just about anything that’s fun and carefree!

We all experience these bah, humbug moments on the road to changing our lives. It’s totally ok and totally normal!Just remember to cut yourself some slack and take

Just remember to cut yourself some slack and take time to love yourself, congratulate yourself, and keep your eyes on the prize.

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This week, we are thrilled to welcome Starr Burgess, M.A. LPC. back to Vagina Chronicles Podcast! If you’re a long-time listener, you’ll remember Starr from Episode 19: “Healthy Relationships – How To Tell If You Have One and What To Do If You Don’t.” It was one of our favorite conversations with such an incredibly insightful woman.

We invited Starr back to the show to dig a little deeper into how/when people begin to enter patterns of abuse in relationships… as children and teens.

Starr shares with us the warning signs of early abuse, whether it’s at home or within relationships or peer groups, and what we can do as adults. The main goal here is to develop trust in order to keep the lines of communication open.

The hope of this episode is for young people to begin to recognize when emotional, verbal, or relational bullying is happening so that they can exercise their right to change their circumstances (as far as it is within their power to do so). If we can help young people to not allow themselves to be caught in the cycles of abuse (self or other) at an early age, the perpetuation of violence may begin to recede.

We hope that you share this episode with anyone in your life that may need to hear this message of self-love, self-reliance, and empowerment.

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In the Comments:

Have you noticed controlling or abusive behaviors in your kids or siblings relationships with others? How do you address the threat of those behaviors with the young people in your life? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.

Our lives are works of art that sometimes look a lot more Goya than Rockwell. Like art, our lives are full of complexities, richness, and stories that are open to the interpretation of each individual who experiences them. Music and literature also share the fluidity of perception. Ink, paint, notes, life experiences…all true. You can see them, touch them, hear them, live them, but they’re not the complete story. They’re part of the whole that challenges each of us to discover what we need from them in the moment.

It can be tough, though, to see our past in these terms, as fluid. After all, the impact our past experiences have on us is, in this metaphor, the brush that defines the line or the pen that shapes each letter. The total sum of the parts makes us who we are: Yes!

But it’s ok to look again, with new eyes – more experienced eyes – and seek the deeper meanings. To find the symbolism of strength and resilience, of power and abundance. It’s ok, but sometimes not easy. Sometimes, the blocks are attachments that only keep you from shining your brightest.

Today, we are discussing what it means to redefine your story and how to handle the anxiety or fear that may show up when we realize that we need to leave some things behind in order to live into our new chapters. Sometimes, these are people, family or friends, and sometimes they’re habits or thoughts.

Whatever it is that seeks to keep you in a story that no longer serves you, we know how challenging it can be to let go. We hope you enjoy today’s episode and grab your copy of “Heal Your Soul: 5 Practices for an Empowered Life.”

Mentioned in this episode:

To sign up for your complimentary copy of“Heal Your Soul: 5 Practices for an Empowered Life,” enter your name and email into the fields right above this post and click the “Yes!” button

Listen To The Full Episode:

In the Comments:

Have you ever consciously made a change that allows you to live more fully into a new version of yourself? What feelings came up when you knew you had to leave things behind that no longer serve you? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.

Trigger Warning: On today’s episode, we are talking to author K.L. Randis about her experience of child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and going through the process of prosecuting her abuser…her father. Please proceed at your own discretion if you think any of these subjects may be exceptionally difficult for you to hear at this time. It’s ok to wait to listen. Heck, a few years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to record this interview, so please take care of yourselves and honor where you are now.

That being said, we welcome the bestselling author of Spilled Milk, K.L. Randis, to the show today. Kelly penned the novel, Spilled Milk, based on her real-life experience of abuse at the hands of her father.

Kelly shares her pivotal moment of realization that her family situation wasn’t ok and wasn’t typical; this moment was her tipping point to healing and getting help. She is one of the few who went through the process of prosecuting her abuser after being given a safe space to speak of her abuse and to be heard and believed.

This is a tough, but necessary, discussion of how we can help create those safe conditions within our own families.

It is an honor to welcome HeatherAsh Amara to Vagina Chronicles Podcast and to introduce her to you on today’s episode. HeatherAsh is the author of Warrior Goddess Training: Become the Woman You are Meant to Be. HeatherAsh shares her journey from spiritual student to apprentice to Toltec Master don Miguel Ruiz to her path of helping women discover their innate power and divinity.

In this enlightening conversation, HeatherAsh walks us through some of the truths about our path to freedom that many of us need to re-learn. She helps us to peel back the layers of training that obscure our deepest connections to self, love, and others.

In her book, Warrior Goddess Training, HeatherAsh lays out 10 lessons that we can all use to come home to our femininity and power. Some of these lessons may be confrontational as our egos cling to what they know in order to keep us “safe,” but they are so necessary to growth. As HeatherAsh says, we must have a willingness to be uncomfortable. It’s ok to go slow. We are not alone and there is no judgment.

We are honored to welcome Dr. Laurel Geise to Vagina Chronicles Podcast today. Laurel is the CEO and founder of The Geise Group, an international speaker and Strategic Business Consultant, as well as inspirational author.

Laurel’s personal spiritual journey led her to the write her beautiful, inspirational book The Jesus Seeds: Igniting Your Soul-Guided Life. She joins us on this episode to share how we can all tap into our own divine nature in order to live a life of purpose and integrity.

With Laurel’s guidance, you will learn how to soul journal, a wonderful daily practice that will help you find your authentic voice with love… whatever spiritual practice you currently follow, Laurel’s wisdom is like a soothing balm.

On today’s episode, we’re talking about bullying. Have you been bullied as an adult? Are you being bullied as an adult?

As we get older and wiser, we’d like to think that we leave a lot of unsavory situations and emotions behind us. You know, on the playground, where a lot of social learning <ahem, awkwardness and embarrassment> takes place. We grow up and get to leave all of that behind us, right?

Sometimes, no. Sometimes, even as adults, we have to face a bully. Bullies can be in our workplace, home, or social circle.

And it doesn’t necessarily get easier to deal with them, either…especially when your livelihood may be tied to daily encounters with your bully. Being bullied as an adult can cause horrible physical issues, as well as psychological damage, depending on a lot of different factors.

That’s why it’s important to acknowledge if you are experiencing bullying in your life. In order to take the next steps (whatever those are for you – no one can tell you what will work best for your unique situation), you have to admit that it’s real. It’s not your fault. And you now have choices on how to deal.

The topic of ambition recently came up in one of our VC2016 brainstorming sessions. After chatting about our ideas of what the word means to us individually, as well as the context it’s societally understood in, we knew we had to dig a little deeper into how describing ourselves as ambitious or not makes us feel and how judgement rears its ugly head in the labelling process.

am·bi·tion. amˈbiSH(ə)n/

noun – a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.

Now, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Determination. Desire. Hard work. Good, solid words to describe what keeps many of us going – having something to look forward to and achieve.

But, too often, the word(s) ambition/ambitious are used to either put ourselves or others down. Some people use ambition as a synonym for uncaring, ruthless, mean-spiritedness in others. Still today, we see ambitious women being labelled “bossy,” “bitch,” or any number of meant-to-be insults.

On the flip side, some of us put those we deem most ambitious into an untouchable realm of super-humanness… something we’ll never be, no matter how much we want something. We use this judgment to denigrate ourselves and add check marks to the “Not Good Enough” column. Put the measuring stick down!

In reality, we are all ambitious in different regards. Although the term is applied most often to career aspirations and/or monetary rewards, it can actually apply to any area that you are dedicated to doing your best in – self-love, family, projects, the environment, education, kindness, etc. It’s not a good or bad thing to be ambitious – it just is.

Today, we welcome Toltec Master of Transformation and author, don Miguel Ruiz Jr. to Vagina Chronicles Podcast. Miguel Jr. is the son of don Miguel Ruiz, author of the New York Times bestseller The Four Agreements… If you feel the way we feel about The Four Agreements, wait until you listen to this fantastic, uplifting interview.

In his recently released book, The Five Levels of Attachment: Toltec Wisdom for a Modern World, Miguel explains how attachment to our beliefs can move us from a preference to fanaticism and how we all move in and out of the different levels of attachment throughout our lives.

Miguel shows us the freedom in noticing our attachments without judgement. He shares how we can get in touch with our authentic selves by detaching from our beliefs – about others, about the world, about truth, and about ourselves – and how this clarity leads to taking action.

Please enjoy this incredible conversation and do yourself a favor and purchase, check out, borrow, listen to The Five Levels of Attachment: Toltec Wisdom for a Modern World.

The holiday season in the States has just come to a close, leaving lots of us feeling a little out of sorts and, maybe, a bit depressed.

It can be tough to return to “normalcy” after weeks of celebrations, dinners, drinks, great food, days off, lighter work loads etc. Yeah, we get it. So, where do we go from here? How do we open our arms to a new year of possibilities if we’re mourning the loss of all that… fun?!

Well, despair not, friends! This episode, we share some great ideas for how you can re-energize and look forward to a great 2016! It’s the year of love after all!